12 July 2017: Recent initiatives have explored ways to integrate climate change considerations into national development planning. A publication by the Climate & Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) developed a set of proposals for integrating Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) into national development plans. A recently-concluded project on co-investment in mitigation and adaptation in Southeast Asia helped integrate climate change into national development efforts in Indonesia and Viet Nam.

A CDKN report titled, ‘10 propositions for success: Integrating international climate change commitments into national development planning,’ outlines ways to support the successful integration of NDCs into national development planning.

The CDKN report recommends that NDCs be consistent with national development policies, and have broad national support and political backing.

The paper offers a set of ten propositions, recommending that, inter alia, NDCs be consistent with national development policies, and have broad national support and political backing, and NDC development have clear institutional leadership. It also calls for national coordination for climate change and development actions, with NDC institutions responding to local development needs, and for NDC spending to be monitored and reported, and subject to national oversight and scrutiny. [10 Propositions for Success: Integrating International Climate Change Commitments into National Development Planning] [Publication Landing Page] [Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange Press Release]

The final Southeast Asia regional workshop of the project titled, ‘Climate-Smart, Tree-based, Co-investment in Adaptation and Mitigation in Asia’ (Smart Tree-invest), convened in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 17 May 2017. Funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the project was carried out from 2014-2017.

It sought to introduce agricultural innovations to farmers and local governments in the district of Buol in Central Sulawesi Province that would help improve the degraded watershed and poor farmers’ livelihoods. The Smart Tree-invest project also worked in the Ho Ho sub-watershed in Viet Nam, introducing a range of innovations, including: using research findings to develop environmental co-investment schemes; researching agroforestry and producing new concepts and techniques; and compiling local and scientific knowledge to share. The best practices the project introduced contributed to environmental and economic benefits, encouraged the enactment of better environmental regulations, and induced planning based on village needs, among others. [World Agroforestry Centre Press Release] [Climate-smart, Tree-based, Co-investment in Adaptation and Mitigation in Asia Webpage] [IFAD Smart Tree-invest Webpage]